A civilized sort of easy rider

A civilized sort of easy rider

byDavid Booth | May 10, 2011

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The Harley-Davidson Blackline is an easy rider.

Harley-Davidson, handout

The Harley-Davidson Blackline is an easy rider.

Harley, handout

I think Dennis Hopper -were he alive and, more specifically, still riding motorcycles -would like Harley-Davidson’s new Blackline. I say that because the Blackline looks strikingly similar to the Billy bike Hopper’s character rode in Easy Rider, the most famous motorcycle movie of all time.

Familiarity, always so important as we grow older, would immediately make Hopper feel at home. After all, the recently deceased scandal machine -you know, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in epic proportions -claimed to have designed the Billy bike himself (although it was actually built by long-ignored AfricanAmerican custom builder Ben Hardy), saying it was “much more practical” than the monstrously stretched “Captain America” bike Peter Fonda’s character rode in the same movie.

But the similarities end there. The original was a classic (and probably leaky) Panhead police bike customized with a true rigid frame and extended forks, while the 2011 Blackline features Milwaukee’s latest TwinCam96 V-twin, a slick-shifting six-speed transmission and the Softail’s faux hardtail rear suspension. In other words, while Hopper’s Billy bike might have been problematic and uncomfortable crossing the country Easy Rider-style, the Blackline can do so without concern.

Certainly, it’s more comfortable than it looks. Oh, the flat-riser bars (two-piece on the Blackline rather than single-piece Billy bike items) and the far-forward footpegs challenge my already decrepit lower lumbars and rigid hip flexors, but the seat itself is incredibly comfortable. Harley seats have undergone much change in the last year and are dramatically improved for it. The same applies to the suspension, which, though it appears familiar, also feels vastly improved. The faux rigid frame still uses two short shocks hidden under the engine, but, despite a relatively short suspension (just 91 millimetres of travel), it handled Toronto’s moonscaped roads better than I remember previous Softails doing. Ditto the front fork -looking like it was sourced from the Wide Glide -which was compliant yet still firm enough for good control under braking.

Braking, as with many of Harley’s Softails, is the Blackline’s only significant weakness. Harley riders must fear locking the front brake more than the end of the world or impending nuptials to Rosie O’Donnell (I’ll let you choose which is worse). How else to explain the front disc, which, though solitary, is still a fairly beefy 296-mm item and is squeezed on by a genuine four-piston caliper? The only way to make this combination require this much lever effort is to deliberately mate the package with an oddly sized master cylinder. As it stands, the Blackline is one of the few motorcycles I’ve ridden on which I couldn’t lock the front wheel no matter how hard I railed on the front brake lever. Perhaps The Motor Company could offer a choice of braking systems, though, as I’ve been told, many traditional Harley buyers like their motors strong and their brakes weak.

The engine, that big 96cubic-inch (1,584 cubic centimetres) pumps out about 90 pound-feet of torque as low as 2,000 rpm. There’s not much in the way of horsepower, but, then, that doesn’t matter since no one revs any Big Twin past 5,000 rpm. Mated to the Cruise-Drive six-speed gearbox, the bike gets up to speed quickly enough.

It’s also admirably smooth for something with two 95mm pistons whirring through a massive 111-mm stroke, especially since the engine is rigidly mounted (as opposed to rubber mounted) to the frame. Thankfully, the engine has internal counterbalancers that keep most of the vibration in check.

Most importantly, the styling works just as well in 2011 as it did in 1969. The low, densely packed rear end is offset by the airiness of the raked and extended front fork as well as the skinny 21inch spoked front wheel. The matte-black frame is a nice touch and the gas tank has been cleaned of its redundant secondary gas cap. The only discordant note is that the engine’s left side cover is powder-coated glossy back. The side cover of a Harley engine is a large affair, far too big to be covered in that much bling. It just doesn’t fit with the Blackline’s bad-ass image.

Nonetheless, the new Blackline ($17,149) is a remarkably civilized package. The main features -suspension, seating and smooth-running engine -conspire to lend the Blackline a cruising ability Billy could only dream of -in a package he would instantly recognize.